Large version of Operation isn’t much easier than the original

MegOperation, as the Lansing hackerspace calls their build, is a gigantic printout of the chronically ill guy from Operation plastered onto a sheet of plywood. Wire loops surround each incision to detect when a surgeon’s unsteady hand when retrieving unnecessary body parts. These wire loops are connected to an Arduino that regulates the bell and light-up nose the team didn’t quite have time to finish.

Even though the team used an Arduino for their large-scale version of Operation – a game that doesn’t require any electronics besides a battery, wire, and buzzer – breaking out each body part to a separate Arduino pin seems pretty smart. A processing app keeps track of the time elapsed for each operation and can detect when the wire surrounding a particular incision is touched, perfect for competitive Operation play.

I like it! We considered metal tape when we realized we weren’t going to be able to replicate the original, but opted against it because we were worried about needing to adjust the shapes for difficulty (if the game ended up being too easy or too difficult), but it looks like it worked swimmingly on the TC build. (http://goo.gl/CwsTg)